President Ahmadinejad Insulted and Threatened by Israel and the United States?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a news conference in Tehran, August 28, 2007. Ahmadinejad has been denied a request to visit the World Trade Center site of the September 11 attacks, New York police said on Wednesday.
REUTERS/Caren Firouz

Ahmadinejad denied visit to site of September 11 attacks

20 September 2007

By Shlomo Shamir

New York police on Wednesday said that the Iranian president has been denied a request to visit "Ground Zero" in lower Manhattan, the site of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who regularly accuses the United States of arrogance in his speeches, had asked to visit the site in order to lay a wreath while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly this month.

"The site is closed to visitors because of construction there," police spokesman Paul Browne said in a statement.

"Requests for the Iranian president to visit the immediate area would also be opposed by the NYPD on security grounds."

Police said they were unsure why Ahmadinejad wanted to visit.

The mere notion of Ahmadinejad visiting drew fire from White House hopefuls on both sides of the political divide. Washington has long accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism.

"It is unacceptable for Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who refuses to renounce and end his own country's support of terrorism, to visit the site of the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil in our nation's history," Democratic U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton said in a statement.

Former Republican New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also opposed any such visit.

"This is a man who has made threats against America and Israel, is harboring Bin Laden's son and other al Qaeda leaders, is shipping arms to Iraqi insurgents and is pursuing the development of nuclear weapons," he said.

"Assisting Ahmadinejad in touring Ground Zero - hallowed ground for all Americans - is outrageous."

Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, agreed with the police decision and accused Iran of supporting violent groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Iran can demonstrate its seriousness about concern with regard to terrorism by taking concrete actions, such as dropping support for Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and suspending their uranium enrichment program," Khalilzad said.

"We do not support that the tragedy that happened on a site where so many people lost their lives be used as a photo op," Khalilzad told reporters.

After the September 11 attacks, some Iranians held impromptu vigils in Tehran.

In 2002 U.S. President George W. Bush famously labeled Iran as part of an "axis of evil" that also included Iraq and North Korea. Since then Iran has defied western pressure to suspend its nuclear program.

Mohammad Mir Ali Mohammadi, spokesman for the Iranian mission to the UN, said he was not notified offically that Ahmadinejad would not be allowed at the site, but said it was unfortunate.

"President Ahmadinejad intended to lay a wreath at the site of ground zero in order to pay tribute to the victims of the terrorists attack of September 11, 2001. We are hopeful that we can still work something out with the police department," he said.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said a visit to ground zero is a matter for the city of New York, but it seems more than odd that the president of a country that is a state sponsor of terror would visit ground zero.


Israeli UN ambassador implores U.S. prevent Ahmadinejad's UN visit
UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman has urged the U.S. administration to deny the participation of Ahmadinejad in the opening session of the United Nations 62nd General Assembly next week in New York City.

"It is the obligation of the American legal authorities to prevent his entrance into the United States and if he does enter, to arrest him and try him for incitement to genocide and aiding and abetting terrorists who kill American soldiers in Iraq," Gillerman told Haaretz Wednesday.

Gillerman also protested to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon over Ahmadinejad's plan to attend the session.

The Iranian president is to address the General Assembly on September 25, the first day of the general debate, which is to be opened by President George W. Bush.

Gillerman says he is aware of the American obligation as the UN host-country to allow any member of the organization to enter the US, "but there is also a limit to honoring agreements," he said.

"This is the head of a country that has called for the destruction of a fellow-member of the UN," Gillerman said. "Since Ahmadinejad's appearence at the General Assembly last year, proof has gathered that Iran is assisting extremists in Iraq to kill American soldiers."

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is planning a protest against Ahmadinejad in front of UN headquarters. Conference Vice Chairman Malcolm Honlein called Ahmadinejad's appearence "a negative message to the world.

The U.S. also has denied a visa to Iran's United Nations ambassador in Geneva to attend next week's General Assembly meeting because he was involved in the 1979 U.S. hostage crisis, a UN official said Wednesday.

It was not clear what role Ali Reza Moaiyeri, Iran's U.N. ambassador in Geneva, played in the 1979 hostage crisis. The UN official who said his visa was denied spoke on condition of anonymity because there has been no public announcement.

Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said, "although we don't comment about specific visa cases we certainly would not allow a person into the United States who has taken Americans as hostages."